The Politics of Outbound Calling

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

With the fall elections in the United States approaching, call centers that make automated and/or political calls should consider:

Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it right. Check numbers against the DNC list when making political calls. Those who signed up did so for a reason. Calling them will only make them mad, causing them to assume you or the candidate are breaking the law.

Don’t overcall people. Even if the client is willing to pay you to call the same number multiple times, don’t do it—especially not on the same day!

Don’t mislead people; do provide responsible discloser. Email messages must contain legitimate subject lines; print and broadcast ads must state who paid for the ad; and mailed messages have their own content requirements. Apply these reasonable and accepted practices to recorded messages—people have grown to expect this from other channels, provide it on calls as well.

Expect both robocalls and political calling to come under greater scrutiny. Now is the time to diversify your call center activity into other, less contentious areas.

People do not understand why they receive these calls when they are on the DNC list—and they are angry about it.